Recent content by bwarren

The 2nd and 3rd Monteros are very reliable and excellent off-road, maybe even better than a 4Runner of the era stock vs. stock. The frame is not a typical unibody, it’s very stout and designed for hard off-road. They will never have the flex of a 4Runner but they have an advanced traction system...

I had a similar issue and it ended up being my fan clutch.

Check the metal lines under the passenger side going to the rear heater. They look like fuel or brake lines but are actually coolant going to the rear heater. Those lines tend to rust and start leaking.

I appreciate CA's strict emission and exhaust laws. If you remember southern California in the early 1980s the smog and pollution was horrible. I don't live there but travel there frequently for work. The laws have made a positive difference. California has a great 4Runner community and lots of...

Just go with the cheap copper Denso (#DENSO 3119 (K16R-U)). They are cheap and work great with this engine.

Mine works great, almost too well as Slobo describes. I've also experienced the idle surge when stopped.

Check your rear heater lines.

Check the coolant lines going to the rear heater. The lines are coated steel and prone to corrosion. On my 2.7 4cylinder the lines are located under the passage seat just outside the exhaust pipe/cat. I replaced a large section of mine with high temp rubber coolant hose.

I just use the NKG cooper plugs and they work great.

I have the same issue on my 1996. It's such a small leak that I'm not motivated to fix it yet. If you end fixing it let us know how it goes. BTW, I think only the 1996 and 1997 have the distributor...maybe even just the 1996.

Ok, my bad, that makes more sense now. It's been a few years since I did mine. It was hard enough to access that I ended up moving it the wheel well in case I need to change it again. There is a good write up here...

I don't see the point of the second filter. If it's downstream of the original filter, the original filter will catch all the debris anyway. I'd just run one good OEM filter and move it to move accessible location, many people have done this, there is plenty of room in the engine bay. If you...

Awesome Trip!

This is definitely a 3rd gen, I noticed it immediately when I open the page. The hipsters in Seattle finally realized their Subarus just aren't cutting it. That or they ran out of spare head gaskets. I've been in the NW climbing, mt. biking, and BC skiing scene for a while now. Old Toyota 4x4s...

Darn it...I really want to boost my 3rz now! I'm going to start looking for used supercharger kit.